Are lifestyle brands the way forward in the digital world?

Tech has made business competition fiercer than ever, but it has also made starting lifestyle brands a far easier task.

Unlike a traditional business, which targets customers based on broad demographics such as age or gender, a lifestyle brand attempts to appeal to customers based on their interests, attitudes and opinions.

Quite often these brands are embedded into particular cultures. They may be the leading brand in their market, but often few outside of their demographic group know much about them.

Take clothing brand Supreme, for example. In the skateboarding, hip-hop and general youth scenes, customers will happily spend hundreds (and often thousands) on a piece of Supreme clothing, yet outside of those cultures brand awareness is low.

Flickr/Eden, Janine and Jim

On a far larger scale, Apple can also be considered a lifestyle brand. While Microsoft leads the way in the personal computer market, having captured the average Joe computer user, hardcore tech users tend to go with Apple’s products. Combining tech and luxury, innovation and style, the Apple brand convinces many to shell out thousands on their product, despite a number of far cheaper alternatives.

How lifestyle brands can capitalise on tech

The business world is becoming overcrowded and competition is high. When starting a new business, you are no longer just competing with similar businesses in your local area. Internet access has provided consumers with access to millions of retailers anywhere and everywhere, all of which can be found with a simple Google search.

One third of the world’s population are now social media users. Facebook in particular has achieved an incredible amount of success. Over two billion users now log into the social platform each month.

This means that there are two billion potential customers for businesses to target.

However, platforms like Facebook are particularly useful for lifestyle brands. Businesses are able to target and direct their advertisements at particular people based on their interests and activity. For example, a punk clothing label can target those that like punk rock bands. Likewise, a healthy lifestyle brand can target those interested in sports.

It’s an easy and effective way to get your brand in front of a specific audience. With the right message and an ideology which aligns with the culture that you’re targeting, the internet can make a lifestyle brand an overnight phenomenon.